


As Kingfishers Catch Fire

by SeptSapphire



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang isn't the Avatar, Alternate Universe, Avatar Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, boy howdy am I bad at tags. It's a rewrite where Zuko's the Avatar that's all you need to know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24819643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeptSapphire/pseuds/SeptSapphire
Summary: The Fire Lord's instructions were clear. Zuko was to return with the Avatar or not return at all.Unfortunately for the Fire Nation, there was a wrench in his plans - Zuko, as he discovered on his journey, couldn't capture the Avatar. Not unless he wanted to turn himself in.Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Zuko isn't exactly the Avatar they've been waiting for, though he just might be the one they need anyway.
Comments: 69
Kudos: 449





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like writing an Avatar!Zuko AU is practically a rite of passage in this fandom lmao. Despite the many, many versions of this fic that are out there, I still wanted to give my take on it. Plus it gives me an excuse to rewatch the series again now that it's on Netflix :D
> 
> Title is taken from the poem of the same name by Gerard Manley Hopkins, but here's part of another poem for good measure. It felt especially fitting, given that we are essentially starting off with "Book One: Air":
> 
> "The other two, slight air and purging fire,  
> Are both with thee, wherever I abide;  
> The first my thought, the other my desire,  
> These present-absent with swift motion slide.  
> For when these quicker elements are gone  
> In tender embassy of love to thee,  
> My life, being made of four, with two alone  
> Sinks down to death, oppressed with melancholy"
> 
> -Shakespeare, Sonnet 45

Zuko received the worst news of his life when we was 16.

To be fair, there was a lot of competition for the title.

He could have easily said that the worst news he’d ever received was when he’d been 10 and Father had mockingly recounted how he’d nearly been discarded as a child because he’d lacked the spark in most benders’ eyes when they’re born. It was the first time Father had said Azula was born lucky while he was lucky to be born, but it was far from the last.

Another contender might have been when he’d been 11 and Azula had gleefully told him Father was going to kill him, that he’d been ordered to do it. Or the next morning when Grandfather was found dead and his mother had disappeared without a trace.

What most people probably assumed was the worst news he’d ever received was when he was 13 and he’d been banished from the palace, from the whole of the Fire Nation. It was a horrible, suffocating feeling, but he was okay because he had Uncle, and a purpose, and a way to go back home: find and capture the Avatar.

He wasn’t an idiot. He knew that the Avatar hadn’t been seen for over a hundred years. But he knew Father wouldn’t have given him an impossible task. He had poured all of his energy into looking for the Avatar for three long years, but it was okay, because there was always a chance that he’d succeed. There was always a chance that he’d find the Avatar, and he’d defeat him, and he’d come home and Father would be proud of him.

That was, until now. _This,_ Zuko thought, staring down at his hands in betrayal, _was officially the worst thing that had ever happened to him in a long line of bad things._

He had only been trying to write a letter. He sent Father occasional updates on where he had searched. It wasn’t like he had anything new to report, but at least he was narrowing the playing field, like when Uncle backed his pieces into a corner in Pai Sho. He’d never gotten a response back, but he had to imagine that Father wouldn’t have disregarded valuable intel. That was why he had to keep writing the letters, even if it felt like he was writing to no one.

What had started as a routine letter-writing process – alone in his room aboard the Wani, thank Agni – had somehow ended up with his parchment and writing supplies swept up in a mini-tornado that seemed to have no cause other than his own two hands.

Zuko was good at denial, or at least that’s what he’d heard certain members of the crew whisper behind his back when they complained about pointless tasks and suicide missions. But even he couldn’t deny that an air current had appeared from seemingly nowhere, in a closed room, and it had only dissipated when he’d startled hard and toppled out of his chair.

In retrospect, it maybe wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Well, not quite as noticeably, but still. An odd breeze here and there, never anything that had made him think twice at the time but that he was now turning over and over in his head. Denial was becoming less likely by the second.

But he was a firebender. He brought a spark to life in his palms just to confirm it. It should have been reassuring, but it really, really wasn’t. Because if he was still capable of firebending, and what he had just done was by all accounts _airbending,_ there was only one explanation. There was only one kind of person who could bend multiple elements.

And that meant that Zuko’s route back home was now officially, permanently closed off. It meant that he was never going to be able to go back to the Fire Nation – worse, it meant that he was a traitor to his people. It meant that to his father, he really was better off dead.

Even though his hope that he’d ever find the Avatar had been small, he’d pursued it relentlessly. He’d dedicated every waking minute of the last three years to his search, much to Uncle’s chagrin. Had it all really been for nothing? Had the thing he’d been looking for been right under his nose all along, made all the more frustrating by its damning truth?

He’d heard all manner of Earth Kingdom peasants talk about the Avatar in his search. Some had groused about their disappearance. Some had brushed it off as just a myth, a fairy-tale passed down from older generations to fill kids’ heads with silt.

Others had professed that the Avatar was a symbol of hope. But for Zuko, discovering the Avatar meant complete and utter hopelessness.

He was 16, and he’d just learned that he was never going home again.

~~~

This was all Sokka’s fault.

If he hadn’t been so stupid, if he hadn’t kept insisting Katara couldn’t help because she was a _woman,_ she wouldn’t have flipped out like she had. She wouldn’t have cracked the iceberg that had been floating behind her. She wouldn’t be staring at a giant chunk of ice that had _someone inside._

It wasn’t that she was unfamiliar with the idea of people falling in the ocean and never returning. She’d been warned to stay away from the water’s edge as a child too many times to forget. But she’d never _seen_ something like that up-close before.

Except, as she found out, she was wrong. The man in the ice wasn’t dead, and he wasn’t a man at all – he was a boy who looked younger than her. She expected him to be rigid, barely hanging on if he was alive at all, but the boy introduced himself as Aang and leaped about with all the spryness of the polar-dog puppies and then some. And then he’d shown them the animal he had with him, which he called a _sky bison,_ and without a second thought he’d leaped a solid ten feet in the air.

“You’re an airbender!” Katara couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d heard the stories of airbenders, sure, but seeing one in person was unbelievable. No one had seen one for a hundred years, and yet this young boy – Aang – had just moved the air as easily as she did the water.

Well, maybe a little more easily. Katara was still getting the hang of waterbending, after all.

“Sure am!” Aang grinned wide, giving his staff a few spins before planting it in the ice at his side.

From somewhere behind her, Sokka gave a soft groan. “Katara, I think we’ve finally given in to ocean madness.”

Katara rolled her eyes. “Ignore him,” she said with a little smile, but Aang didn’t look too bothered by Sokka’s rude interjection. “It’s… it’s amazing to meet an airbender after all this time.” Aang look a little confused at that, but she didn’t want him to get upset – it was probably a touchy subject, she figured, maybe she shouldn’t have stumbled into it so carelessly - so she continued, “Say, do you want to go penguin sledding now?”

That was enough to cheer Aang right back up at least. Katara breathed a sigh of relief, ignoring Sokka’s grumbles about not being able to trust him. He was an _airbender,_ a peaceful monk. What did they have to fear?

~~~

Zuko stood at the helm of the Wani as it cut a path through the ice flows. He stared down at the water, watching the waves crash against the hull. What was he going to do?

He’d only come down to the South Pole because it was one of the few times he could get any privacy on the ship somewhere other than his own room. The colder temperatures were enough to drive most of the men inside, more used to the temperate climate of the Fire Nation. Honestly, the only one who paid much attention to him when he wasn’t giving orders was Uncle, and he’d never had much tolerance for the cold. Down here, he could spend time trying to get the water to _do something_ without arousing that much suspicion. Not that he really wanted it to, of course, because that would only confirm what he feared, but…

He groaned under his breath. The whole situation was a disaster. Who would have thought that the Fire Lord’s son…

Well, he hadn’t exactly told the crew why they’d come, of course. He’d come to the South Pole on the pretense of searching for the Avatar, but what were the chances they’d find him in this frozen wasteland of all places?

Well, Zuko knew the chances better than most. He knew because he…

He shied away from the thought. While he’d used the isolation above-deck to try to test out some of his theories, admitting it to himself still felt wrong. He’d seen the evidence with his own eyes – only about a week ago – but he still found it hard to believe.

It had gotten even less believable when that beam of light had lit up the sky. Because by all accounts, the only thing powerful enough to have sent up that kind of disturbance should have been the Avatar. It was what he’d told his crew, and it was what he wanted to believe himself. Except he knew it couldn’t really be the Avatar, because…

Because _he_ was the Avatar.

Zuko grimaced. He’d tried to deny it, but it was hard to say he couldn’t bend more than one element when he’d watched himself do it. He hadn’t been meaning to do it, of course – he never would have even thought to try it, he was a _firebender_ and loyal to the Fire Nation, and yet it had happened almost of its own accord.

Despite his best attempts, he hadn’t been able to replicate it. Or any other bending, for that matter. But he still knew what he saw. Which made it even more confusing that there might be some sort of second Avatar running around in the South Pole somewhere.

What would he be like? Would he be over a hundred years old? Had he spent all this time training? How could there even _be_ two Avatars? …And why had Zuko been so certain that the beam of light had been from the Avatar in the first place? If it was some sort of Avatar sense, he’d been sorely missing it before now.

As much as he didn’t want to find out the answer to any of these questions, he’d directed his crew to follow that light. It would have looked suspicious if he hadn’t. He was supposed to be hunting the Avatar, and he had been, for the last three years before his own condition had made itself known. But he couldn’t tell anyone about that, not even Uncle. The Avatar was the enemy of the Fire Nation. If they knew it was one of their own people, their own Prince… if Father found out… He didn’t want to know what he’d decide to do about it. So he hadn’t told anyone, and he wasn’t going to. Not until he figured out why in Agni’s name the spirits had chosen _him._

Which left him here, staring into the sea and trying to predict what in the world would happen once he finally caught up to… whoever this was.

He sighed, thankful at least for the momentary calm before they landed and he’d have to go right back to pretending.

~~~

The South Pole wasn’t exactly teeming with potential Avatars. Present company excluded, of course.

There were a handful of kids – and one particularly pathetic “warrior” who Zuko had easily disarmed – who mostly just shied away when Zuko and his crew got closer. There were some old people, one of whom he gestured to while trying to indicate the likely age of the Avatar who’d sent up that beam of light. The motion had drawn a shocked gasp from a nearby girl, but she made no move to stop him. Nobody else moved either, all watching him like frightened robin-mice in a hawk’s next.

Zuko was just starting to think his search was fruitless and he’d been lead down another dead end (and of course he had, what did he think, that there’d be a _second_ Avatar in the South Pole) when the little bald kid had shown up.

At first he’d been remarkable only in that his outfit looked completely outlandish for the frigid temperatures, but then he’d snapped open some staff-looking thing into a kind of glider and _literally flew,_ and apparently there was an _airbender_ in the Southern Water Tribe.

The airbenders had been gone for ages. If this kid was one, then that could only mean… “Are you the Avatar?” 

The kid looked _sad_ for some reason, which totally threw Zuko off. “No,” he said, looking down and away, “I… I’m just an airbender.”

Right, that figured. Zuko didn’t know what he’d been hoping for. Maybe he’d thought, for a second, that if the airbender was also an Avatar, then he could bring him back to his father and it would be fine, it wouldn’t matter what Zuko could or couldn’t bend because he’d be home in the Fire Nation where he belonged. But an airbender, while nothing to scoff at nearly 100 years after they’d been wiped out, didn’t fulfill the terms of the agreement. He was out of luck again. He really was the only Avatar, and he… he had no idea what to do with the knowledge.

And it was then that Zuko had an idea. Because, well, this kid _was_ an airbender. And Zuko was, he had accepted, capable of bending too – usually not of his own accord. And that was the problem, wasn’t it? He had no control. It was the first thing taught to new firebenders, and for good reason. An out of control fire could do a lot of damage. He figured airbending as a firebender was the same way. If he didn’t learn to control it, he’d inevitably slip up.

He needed, as much as it rankled him to admit it, to practice. To learn. He had _no_ intention of revealing his abilities or really using them at all, but it was for exactly that reason that he really could benefit from a teacher. Once he knew what he was doing, he could quietly stick airbending in a neat little mental box and never touch it again.

And, well, it wasn’t like airbenders were everywhere these days. Better to not look a gift ostrich-horse in the beak. 

But he couldn’t just say as much in front of all of these observers. He needed to get the airbender on his ship, and he needed to speak to him alone. So he widened his stance, pitched his voice into something he hoped was believable, and said, “You can’t lie to me, _Avatar,_ I know who you are.”

“I’m not!” the boy protested.

“So you’re just an airbender who happens to be at the _Southern Water Tribe?_ A likely story. Seems to me like you’re here to learn waterbending. But I’m afraid I can’t let that happen, so I’ll make you a deal: board my ship and allow me to take you captive, and I’ll leave this village alone.”

The girl from before gasped, saying something to the airbender, but the kid shook his head. “If you’ll really leave everyone here alone, then I’ll… I’ll go with you.”

Zuko blinked. Had it really been that easy? Immediately two of his men moved forward to take the airbender by the arms, guiding him back up onto the ship. Well, nothing about the current situation was going exactly as planned, but Zuko couldn’t help but pat himself on the back a bit. Things had gone better than expected, everything considered.

“I know I agreed to go with you, but I’m really _not_ the Avatar,” the kid said, squirming a little in his men’s grasp. “I’m just Aang the airbender!”

 _Yes,_ Zuko wanted to say, _I know, but I need your cooperation and this is the only way to get it._ He didn’t say that, because he was standing within hearing range of half the crew, and they’d hardly even pulled away from Water Tribe shores. Instead, he said, “Your lies won’t work on me. Take him away.”

He let the airbender – Aang - be led off. He’d have to keep up the appearance of keeping him in the brig, but he was sure that as soon as he explained himself the kid would understand. He only had to wait for his men to get Aang settled and for them to leave.

It figured that as soon as he was getting ready to go talk to him, then, everything went sideways. Between one blink and the next, the empty hallways that led to the brig was suddenly full of whipping winds. Zuko brought his arms up to brace against it, so he nearly missed when Aang came around the corner, spun his arms like pinwheels, and shot a gust of air so hard at Zuko that he was flung clear off his feet and into the wall behind him.

By the time he got back up, rubbing at the sore spot on the back of his head, the boy was long gone. He scrambled back to the deck only to see Aang tossing his crewmates about in the same way. Zuko groaned under his breath. What was he trying to achieve? Nothing but freezing cold ocean awaited Aang’s escape, even if he managed to fend everyone off.

Or at least, that’s all that had been there until a _ten ton pile of fur_ landed on the deck right out of the sky. Zuko couldn’t help it; he stumbled to a stop and just gaped at it. Was that… a _sky bison?!_ …And those two children on top of it looked familiar.

Hesitating was the wrong move. Though he fought with everything he had to keep Aang on the ship, trying to keep an airbender grounded was an exercise in futility. By the end of it, he’d nearly been launched off into the ocean, half of his crew was encased in ice from the waist down, and Aang and those other kids had taken off, all before Zuko had exchanged a single meaningful word with the kid.

He’d had him _right there_ and he’d let him slip away. His one chance at learning airbending. What was he supposed to do now?

For Agni’s sake. What was he going to have to do, chase these people all across the world?

No, that was ridiculous. Except…

Except, it was exactly what his crew was expecting him to do. Except, he had been banished and instructed to find the Avatar so he could come home. Except, it made perfect sense for him to keep pursuing the airbender with single-minded determination for as long as he could.

 _And_ he’d just had an idea. It was a wild plan, but… well, what other choice did he have?

When the last of his crew had been defrosted, he barked out some orders for them to follow the path of the bison and retreated to his room. No one stopped him; they probably assumed he was ready to snap at them for letting “the Avatar” escape, but Zuko wanted to be alone for an entirely different reason.

When he’d shut the door behind him and made sure no one was coming in, he took a deep breath, tried to recall what Aang had done right before he’d sent Zuko flying, and replicated the movements.

It wasn’t exactly the same powerful gust he’d felt, but it was there nonetheless. A clear, directed stream of air that rippled the edges of the Fire Nation flag that hung damningly over his bed.

Twin feelings of pleasant surprise and dread twisted in his gut like two dragons battling over the last scrap of sheep-pig meat. Pleasant surprise, because he’d actually done it, he’d actually _airbended_ and he could do it just by replicating the motion. Dread because he’d actually done it, he’d actually _airbended_ and that meant that the last tiny part of him that had been desperately denying him being the Avatar had been crushed.

He… he wasn’t going home. Maybe ever. And he wasn't just the Avatar but the son of the Fire Lord, and he didn’t know which one mattered more to his father, except that he thought, maybe, he did. And he really didn’t know what he was supposed to do about it now that he knew.

He’d never been one for long deliberations. He usually acted on his gut. But right now, his gut was being pulled in all different directions by those aforementioned angry dragons, and if he thought about his current situation for too long he just might have been sick.

Maybe Uncle would have known what to do, but it wasn’t like he could just tell him, “Hey, Zuko here, you know the Avatar, the one person in the whole world that could pose a threat to the Fire Nation? Yeah, that’s me. Want to help me commit high treason?” and expect him to stick around, let alone give him the slightest idea of what he should do.

Which meant he had to come up with a solution on his own. And his thoughts kept drifting back to the idea he’d had on the deck; if he kept chasing after Aang, he’d have more opportunities to see his airbending up close and personal. He’d be able to do a lot more than a simple gust of wind.

Zuko needed to learn better control over his bending if he wanted to keep it a secret. And in order to do that, he needed to actually _learn to bend_ all the elements. If he thought of things that way, his very life didn’t feel so much like treason. It felt more like… like training. He was well versed in firebending training – now he just had to do it for the other elements.

 _And,_ he admitted to himself, _maybe firebending too._ He’d never been the best bender, and it hadn’t mattered that much when he could just accept that Azula would always beat him, but wasn’t the Avatar supposed to be a master bender? As much as Uncle’s demands to focus on his basics got under his skin before, they were even worse now. How was he supposed to master four elements when he couldn’t even master one?

Well, one thing at a time. He could always work on firebending - he needed to find that airbender again. No matter where he’d run off to.

Even if he had to hunt him down to the ends of the earth.

~~~

“So, what you told Zuko when you agreed to go with him… was it true? Are you really the Avatar?”

Aang tangled one hand in Appa’s long fur, absently scratching at a spot on the sky bison’s head. “No. I’m not the Avatar, but I knew him.” He grinned. “His name was Tenzin. He studied under Monk Gyatso with me, and we used to get up to all _kinds_ of pranks. We learned airbending together and everything.”

Aang’s smile slowly faded. “We were friends. I thought Tenzin and I would always have each other, but that was before… well, before a hundred years passed, I guess.”

“I’m so sorry, Aang.” Katara knew how unlikely it was that Tenzin was still out there. Especially with the way they’d found Aang.

“Thanks, Katara. But if it’s all the same with you… I really would like to find out what happened to my friend. Even if he’s not… if he’s not around anymore. The Avatar reincarnates. They still have to be out there somewhere. I know it.”

Katara opened her mouth, then paused to glance back at Sokka, but to her surprise he was already nodding along. “Sure, find a guy the whole world’s been looking for the last 100 years, how hard could it be?” he said, but he wasn’t exactly demanding they turn around.

Katara smiled. “We’re going to find the Avatar, Aang. We’ll come with you, wherever you go.”

Aang’s responding smile was a little worn, but it looked genuine all the same. “Thank you guys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuko: Even the 12 year olds are some of the most dangerous benders in the world so I built this cage to keep him secure so there's no possible-  
> *Aang escapes immediately*  
> Zuko: Oh my god


	2. Chapter 2

Zuko wasn’t thrilled to be making a pit stop while his one chance at learning airbending slowly got further and further away.

Luckily, they hadn’t lost anyone to frostbite as a result of Aang (rather carelessly, honestly) sending half of his crew into the ocean, nor did anyone need more than a few moments of thawing from his waterbender friend’s trick.

Unluckily, melting the ice that had encased their legs and warming up everyone who’d gone overboard had wasted precious time. Plus the additional hiccup in their plans of the Wani being nearly blown to pieces in the confrontation, which was going to take even longer to repair.

And, as if his day couldn’t get any worse, Zuko recognized the other Fire Nation ship in the harbor. Of all the rotten luck, of all the viper-rats they could have encountered, it had to be _Zhao._

By Agni did Zuko hate him. About the only good think he could say was that at least Zhao was open about his hatred of Zuko too. Let Uncle make his peaceful gestures all he wanted; Zhao and Zuko knew where they stood with each other, and that was about three steps from each other’s throats every time they were in the same room.

Even worse, the man was already headed towards them. “Captain Zhao,” he ‘greeted’ about as cordially as he could manage.

“It’s Commander Zhao now,” he said, with a self-righteous smirk that Zuko so desperately wanted to punch off his face. “Prince Zuko, and General Iroh. What brings you here?”

_Whoever’d made that man a Commander should have been dishonorably discharged on the spot,_ Zuko thought, uncaring if his intense distaste showed on his face. Uncle laughed in that overly-loud way he did to draw attention to himself and away from Zuko when he was simmering in his own anger. “As you can see,” he said, gesturing back to the ship, “we are in need of some repairs.”

Zhao raised a curious eyebrow, studying the damage. “And what exactly could have caused all this, I wonder?”

Uncle opened his mouth to respond, but Zuko cut him off. “We ran into some trouble with icebergs down by the pole.” Better Zhao think him incompetent than he start hunting what could very well be the last airbender.

Zhao gave a shark-dolphin-like smile. “What a pity. Sounds like you could use some sailing lessons. Over tea, perhaps?”

“No. We have to go.”

“ _Prince Zuko,”_ Uncle said in his _I’m disappointed in you_ tone. Zuko avoided setting his clenched fists on fire, but it was a near-miss. “We would be honored to stay for tea.”

Zhao started to lead them away from the harbor, but Zuko snagged Uncle by the arm and pulled him back to hiss in his ear, “What are you doing? Didn’t I say I wanted this to be a quick pit stop?”

“Patience, Prince Zuko,” Uncle rumbled back, unconcerned. “The repairs will take a while anyway. This will be a more productive use of our time than trying to follow a sky bison on foot, at the very least.”

“I doubt it,” Zuko grumbled, his mood officially soured. “With that flying bison of his, the Avatar could be anywhere in the world by now…”

~~~

Katara wasn’t so sure about Aang’s idea to go back to the Southern Air Temple.

It wasn’t that she had the heart to tell him they _couldn’t_ go. She and Sokka had agreed to help look for the Avatar with him, after all, and it seemed like the Southern Air Temple was a good place to start their search. But she knew how much things could change in a hundred years. She’d grown up knowing the extent of the Fire Nation’s cruelty since she was a little girl – both what they’d done to the Air Nomads and to her own mother. They were terrible, evil people.

But Aang didn’t know that, not really. He’d been captured by that creepy scarred dude, sure, but he was still thinking about the nation like it had been a hundred years ago. She just worried that he wouldn’t be prepared for whatever they found when they got to the temple.

If the look on his face was anything to go by, Sokka was having some of the same concerns. But they didn’t have much time to consider it. Before they had more time to do anything other than grab on and hold tight to Appa’s saddle, they were rising sharply in the air, flying up and up until they burst through the clouds and finally came to a stop overlooking huge spires and cliffs.

Aang stood up on Appa’s head, flinging his arms out to the sides like he was making a grand presentation. “Welcome to the Southern Air Temple!”

For all the reservations Katara had about this trip, she couldn’t deny that seeing the temple was breathtaking.

“It’s amazing, Aang.” She really meant it. She’d never seen anything like it – admittedly, she’d rarely seen much outside of ice, packed snow, and animal pelts used to make buildings, but she had the feeling that the air temple would have been impressive by anyone’s standards.

Her amazement was only interrupted when she noticed Aang gently patting Appa’s head and mumbling, “We’re home, buddy. We’re home.”

Visiting an air temple was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Katara was just unsure – or perhaps she was sickeningly sure - about what exactly they would find once they were there.

~~~

Lieutenant Jee did not appreciate being put on supply run duty. He especially didn’t appreciate being ordered around to do menial tasks by some temperamental teenager, but he’d at least learned to tolerate that particular injustice over the years. Still, that didn’t mean he had a particular fondness for Prince Zuko and his never-ending search for the Avatar.

To say Jee wasn’t exactly a fan of their pointless quest to travel through every square mile in existence was an understatement. It was exhausting. As someone who’d spent the vast majority of his adult life in the Fire Nation military, he was accustomed to being ordered around, but at least those orders had a _purpose._ Hunting someone who hadn’t been seen for over a century was far from the personally fulfilling, promising career supporting his country he’d been promised when he’d first become part of the military (though his faith in _that_ conviction had been shaken long before he’d ever ended up on the Prince’s ship).

Then again, in light of recent events, maybe there was more that even he could learn about the world. Because despite his reluctance, despite how often he’d seethed at the Prince’s idiotic single-mindedness for a doomed quest, and despite how Jee had come to accept long ago that they would never find the Avatar, well, they _had._ They’d found an airbender in the South Pole, clearly conspiring with a waterbender. It seemed infinitely unlikely, but somehow they’d actually found the Avatar.

This wasn’t as encouraging as he was sure it was supposed to be. Maybe he could have seen it as a way for them to finally bring this senseless journey to an end, but…

Jee was a loyal Fire Nation citizen, despite what his previous disciplinary record might suggest. He knew it was the duty of every member of the Fire Nation to see the Avatar caught or captured, and it was doubly so for him as part of the military.

The problem was that the Avatar wasn’t some hundred year old bending master, fully capable of taking out whole battalions of Fire Nation troops. He wasn’t some master bender from the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribes either. By all accounts, the Avatar was a kid not much younger than his daughter Den had been the last time he’d seen her. And Jee knew that war was ugly, he understood that kids weren’t spared from it just because they were kids, but if it ever came right down to himself and that boy, he didn’t know if he’d make the choice his country demanded of him.

This was, he admitted to himself, maybe another reason why Prince Zuko’s fervor for capturing the Avatar even after he’d seen that he was no more than a child rankled him. While Jee was bogged down with the ethics of sentencing what could be the last airbender to life in prison or death, Prince Zuko didn’t seem particularly concerned with the kid’s fate.

Then again, the Prince was still young too, though it was often hard to remember the 13 year old boy who had awoken on their ship with bandages covering half his face. He had the excuse of youth. Commander Zhao had no such excuse.

You didn’t have to get Jee very drunk to get him to admit how much he found Commander Zhao to be an insufferable hot head.

His distaste for Zhao extended to most of his crew as well, who tended to be just as egotistical and brutish as the man who led them. That was why he was so frustrated to finally finish the supply run, track down the only halfway-decent looking pub anywhere remotely close to the docks, and enter to find not only half of the Wani’s crew already neglecting their own repair duties but also that they were accompanied by Zhao’s crew as well.

Frustrated, but not surprised. The Wani’s crew wasn’t exactly known for its discipline, and it figured that Zhao’s crew would do the same.

Well, Jee resolved not to let that get in the way of his plans. He was going to have a drink, and then he was going to go back to the ship and listen to the Prince gripe about how the repairs weren’t finished yet, and he was going to keep his mouth shut about everyone being at the pub because he wasn’t interested in a lecture from someone less than half his own age.

At least, that had been his plan, until Yizao had clearly had one too many and started running his mouth. Jee _hated_ getting involved.

Yizao was half-slumped at a table a few paces away, talking animatedly to two of Zhao’s men. “And we’re just supposed to- supposed to put up with it because he’s a Prince?” He snorted in contempt. “’S hogmonkey-wash! He’s _banished_ for Agni’s sake, even the Fire Lord didn’t want that brat around!”

“ _Yizao,_ ” Jee chastised warningly, because even he knew that was taking things a step too far. For all the animosity that had built up between the Prince and the crew for the last three years, getting caught saying anything like that was still as good as a death sentence. Not from the Prince – he got shouty, sure, but Jee sincerely doubted he’d followed through on a single one of his threats ever – but from General Iroh. He was easygoing enough, but he had a glare that could melt steel and even a badgermole could see he cared about the Prince.

Unfortunately, Yizao was too drunk or too stupid to heed his warning. “Like you don’t think we’ve been wasting the last three years?” He slumped a little further, and for a moment Jee thought he might, blessedly, leave it at that. And then he continued, “At least, until yesterday, I guess.”

Jee tried to restrain himself from smacking a palm against his forehead. Of all the stupid things to say! _Don’t you realize capturing the Avatar is_ our _chance to finally return to the Fire Nation too?_ he wanted to yell, but he knew it would only make it worse. _If you get Zhao involved in this race and he gets to the Avatar before us, then what?!_

Zhao’s men glanced at each other, then leaned in eagerly at this development. “And what happened yesterday?” one asked.

“Like nothin’ I’ve ever seen before. Just a huge column of light, and then there was the Avatar, but he wasn’t some old dude, he was, like, 10, but he nearly airbended me off the side of the damn ship!”

“That’s enough,” Jee snapped, but the damage was already done.

“Avatar, you say?” Zhao’s men looked _very_ interested, and Jee imagined it wouldn’t take long until the information was in possession of the man himself.

Jee groaned under his breath. They’d never hear the end of this one once it made it back to Prince Zuko.

~~~

“Staying for tea” was taking a lot longer than Zuko had hoped for.

Zhao had been his usual insufferable self, and before long he’d roped them into listening to him monologue as per usual. What followed was about an hour of Zuko barely holding back caustic comments as Zhao detailed the latest plans for taking the Earth Kingdom. Zuko doubted it would get them very far – he’d spent plenty of time in the Earth Kingdom, and if the nasty glares they’d directed towards anyone wearing red were any indication, they weren’t likely to submit to the Fire Nation anytime soon – but he didn’t bother saying as much. No doubt that Zhao’s ego couldn’t handle the insult.

Zhao was blessedly called away by one of his guards at the end of his tirade, and Zuko couldn’t have been happier to see him leave. “Haven’t we wasted enough time here?” He asked Uncle, who still sipped impassively at his tea.

“Any time spent conversing over tea is not time wasted,” Uncle said. Zuko tried his hardest not to roll his eyes.

He waited only as long as it took for Zhao to return before standing up abruptly, his tolerance for “hospitality” worn thin.

“Well, this has been fun,” Zuko said, forcing the words out, “But I think it’s time to go.”

“Oh? Back to your quest to capture the Avatar?” Zhao asked.

Zuko tried not to let the question get under his skin. It was only natural that Zhao would ask. It was yet another point he knew he could prod at, a sore spot he knew would drive Zuko to spit embers if he said just the right thing. It didn’t mean he knew anything he shouldn’t. Zuko reminded himself firmly that he needed to _relax,_ or he was going to give himself up before anyone could ruin his life for him.

“The Avatar hasn’t been seen in a hundred years,” he said tersely, fighting off the residual sting of admitting it. It didn’t matter now anyway, not with what he knew.

“Well it’s quite interesting you’d say that. Because according to your own crew, that’s not true anymore, is it?”

Zuko froze, the breath leaving his lungs. What? How could Zhao possibly have found out? How had the Wani’s crew even found out?! Had he been so careless that they had discovered him and turned him in? He found hard against the surge of panic that rose. “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He could tell by Zhao’s smirk that his denial wasn’t going to be enough. It was too late. Zhao was going to tell the whole Fire Nation that Zuko was the Avatar, he’d tell Father, everyone would know and Zuko would _never_ get home any way other than in chains and Father would never love him again and-

“Oh, I think you do. Now _sit,_ ” Zhao commanded, “and tell me more about your encounter with that airbender in the South Pole.”

For a moment, Zuko was so thrown that he couldn’t even comply with the request. He’d been so sure that Zhao was on to him, but of course, of _course_ he’d only found out about Aang and believed him to be the Avatar. If it wouldn’t have been incredibly suspicious, Zuko would have offered a prayer to Agni right then and there, full bow and everything. Instead, Zuko just tried to keep the relief off his face.

“Of course, that- that Avatar! I… knew you would try to get in my way about this, Zhao!” He tried to muster up anger instead of fear, and honestly, it wasn’t hard. Zhao had a special talent for riling him up.

If his tone was off, Zhao didn’t pay it any mind. “Withholding information about threats to national security is treason, _Prince_ Zuko. Of course, I suppose that doesn’t matter much to you.”

Yes, there was the anger again. Good, he’d need it to bluster his way through this.

~~~

They’d walked all over the temple looking for any clues about surviving air nomads. Aang had taken Sokka and Katara on a tour of his home, and while he was happy to show them the place he’d grown up, it was bittersweet seeing it so empty. The air temples were supposed to be loud and exciting and full of life, but now they sat empty, and the chill from the high altitude felt colder somehow.

It was okay though. Aang was going to find where all the air nomads were hiding, and he was going to tell them it was safe to come out, and then he wouldn’t be so alone.

Except instead of the elders or Monk Gyatso, the only thing they’d found had been a flying lemur. And when Aang had given chase, he’d stumbled into a room filled not with the people he’d been searching for but only of _skeletons,_ dozens of them, huddled together. And the one in the middle had been wearing Monk Gyatso’s talisman around its neck.

Aang thought he was going to be sick. It was too much. He’d _known,_ maybe, that Monk Gyatso had been old even when Aang had last been at the Southern Air Temple, he’d known that what Katara had said about the Fire Nation was true, but it still felt like just yesterday that he’d been launching custard pies over the balcony. He’d hoped that maybe, somehow, everything would be just like he’d left it.

But he was wrong. The air nomads… they really had all been wiped out. And Tenzin probably had too.

His cheeks were wet, and some distant part of him knew he was crying, and breeze stirred up his robes, and the same distant part of him knew the wind was stronger than it had been before, but he couldn’t make himself stop. He just felt so lost, and so afraid, and so, so _lonely._

And then there was a hand on his shoulder, and Katara was there, wrapping her arms around him, and Sokka stepped closer too. And they spoke about how they were here for him, and how they cared about him. And finally, Aang let the wind around him die down and just collapsed into their arms.

He knew, then, that he couldn’t have dealt with any of this alone. That he needed Katara and Sokka more than anything else in the world right then. He clung to them just as desperately as they hugged back until his hitching breaths subsided.

It was still devastating to know that in all likelihood everyone he’d ever known was gone. Monk Gyatso, Tenzin, all of the elders, all of his other friends… he’d never see them again, at least not physically. But he had a new family now too. Katara and Sokka cared about him. And it didn’t make up for everything he’d lost, being trapped in that iceberg for a hundred years, but it made it all a little easier to accept.

“I’m so sorry Aang,” Katara said, her own voice thick with tears, “We never should have let you see that.”

“No,” Aang said, shaken but certain. “I’m… It’s hard, but I’m glad we came here. I think I had to know.”

And now that he’d accepted that Monky Gyatso and Tenzin and everyone else was gone, he knew where they needed to go. They still had to find the Avatar, after all, no matter where or who they were. There had to still be hope. If Aang could find any part of his old friend, he would take it.

“There’s one more place we haven’t checked that might point us in the right direction. For finding the current Avatar, I mean.”

Sokka looked dubious. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked. “I mean…” He trailed off, pointedly looking anywhere but the skeletons of the air nomads.

But Aang knew he had to keep looking for his friend, no matter what he would find. “It’s okay. I think it’s worth checking.”

He led them through the temple once again, but this time with a clear destination in mind. In a few minutes, they stood before the door of the sanctuary. “Monk Gyatso once told Tenzin that when he was older, he would come here, and that it would help him become a better Avatar. I don’t know what’s inside, but it might be able to help.”

“You want me to go in there without any idea of who’s inside?” Sokka asked, shrinking back a little.

“Oh come on,” Katara said, “I’m sure Aang wouldn’t lead us somewhere dangerous. Right?” 

Aang grinned sheepishly. “Well, _technically_ only the Council of Elders and the Avatar are allowed to go in, so I don’t exactly know what’s inside. But since they’re not around… I think it’s okay.”

“Great,” Sokka grumbled, but when Aang stepped back and bent air into the pipes on the door, causing them to swing open wide, Sokka followed him inside without complaint.

A quiet “Wow” was all he could bring himself to say. The sanctuary was lined floor-to-ceiling with life-sized statues. There had to be hundreds of them, each one depicting a different person. Aang came to a stop in front of the last one, an older man with a full beard and a topknot, and stared up at it curiously.

“Hey Sokka, look!” Katara said, pointing at a statue to Aang’s right. “Doesn’t this look like Water Tribe clothing?”

“Huh, you’re right,” Sokka mumbled, stepping closer to get a better look.

Aang looked at the other statues in the room, many of which were carved with similar clothes. “Hey, these ones over here are wearing Air Temple robes. And there are Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation clothes too.” He frowned, looking back and forth between each of the statues in their row. “All four elements… Monk Gyatso did say this would teach Tenzin to be a better Avatar. Maybe these statues are all past Avatars.”

“There are so many,” Katara said, still marveling at the Water Tribe man.

“A hundred years… If Tenzin really is gone, I wonder how many Avatars might have come and gone in the meantime.”

“Hey guys, come here.” Sokka flagged them down, drawing their attention. “Look, there’s air, water, earth, fire, and then air again, and it keeps repeating,” he said, pointing at each statue in turn. “It looks like there’s a pattern.”

“So if we’re looking for what happened to the Avatar after Tenzin, you think we should be looking for a waterbender then?” Aang asked, still staring around at the seemingly-endless rows of Avatar statues.

Katara considered the question with a slight grimace. “Well, it’s been a hundred years – I don’t know if they’d even still be around, but other waterbenders in the North Pole might be able to tell us more about them, at least.”

“ _And_ we could find you a waterbending teacher while we’re there!” Aang added, smiling a little at the idea of traveling all the way to the other side of the world. He’d traveled a lot before, sure, but he’d never gone _that_ far. And he figured that a lot of the world had probably changed in the last 100 years, and he’d like to see it for himself.

“Really?” Katara asked, looking down at her hands like she was already thinking about the huge waves she could bend someday. It reminded Aang a lot of how Tenzin had looked when the monks had told him he was the Avatar. He’d been shocked, sure, but he’d been excited to learn all of the elements too. Of course, that excitement hadn’t lasted long once the monks told him that he’d have to be sent away. And after what had happened after all that, he might never have gotten to learn all the elements like he’d wanted to.

But Aang couldn’t think about that right now. He had to focus on finding out what he could about his missing friend and if there had been another Avatar born in the Northern Water Tribe. And he had to focus on helping his friends right now, where he could make a difference.

He tried to shake off the heavy mood. “Well, I’m glad the next element in the cycle isn’t earth. Can you imagine trying to scour the whole Earth Kingdom for a single person? It’d take us _months!”_

Sokka laughed. “Hey, I’m glad it’s not fire. I’d take an impossible to find Earth Kingdom Avatar over a _Fire Nation_ one at least,” he said. “We’d be doomed!”

~~~

What an absolute waste of time today had been. Zuko had let Zhao rile him up again, and they’d lost another half a day to an Agni Kai. One that, as Uncle as quick to point out, was far from necessary, but one that Zuko could have hardly backed down from.

Even if it what Zhao had said was true, and he’d never get to return home again.

He’d _won,_ though, even though Zhao’s firebending was much stronger than his own, and even though Zhao had tried to bend at him when his back was turned and the match had already been called. Zuko figured seeing the look on Zhao’s face when Uncle had torn into him for _that_ had been worth the delay and the earlier frustrations.

And he still had to deal with his crew, who had apparently leaked information he’d asked them to keep confidential.

Now, they stood in from of him on the newly-repaired ship, awaiting orders. News of what had happened spread quickly enough that Zuko didn’t even need to say anything about it. They all knew already.

He noticed Lieutenant Jee and a particularly hungover-looking man – Yizao, he thought – shuffle as his stare passed over them. Their reactions painted a clear picture of guilt, even to someone as bad at reading people as Zuko. While Yizao looked away, Jee met his eyes head-on.

Zuko sighed and let his anger fade. He’d have the unnecessary complication of Zhao now, sure, but it was probably only a matter of time before he’d found out about the incredibly unsubtle airbender anyway. And he _wasn’t_ the Avatar. That was a secret that was still well kept.

And at the end of the day, what was another betrayal? It was foolish to keep getting his hopes up. He should have known better by now.

It just meant he had to make absolutely sure no one found out about his abilities. He couldn’t trust his crew to keep the secret, so he needed to keep things under wraps. It was just another reason why going after Aang was so vital.

“Let’s launch. We’ve wasted enough time here.”

Surprised flickered in Lieutenant Jee’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything. He only led Yizao off with a tight grip on his shoulder.

When the deck was clear again, save for Uncle, Zuko gave another sigh, finally letting his shoulders relax. He had Zhao to worry about now. He couldn't afford to lose time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuko's crew: *Tells Zhao about the Avatar*  
> Zuko: I am disgusted, I am revolted, I dedicate my entire life to our Lord and savior Fire Lord Ozai and this is the thanks I get?
> 
> On the previous chapter someone had commented about crew interactions, and while they’re absolutely going to be part of the story, the crew’s still feeling a little hostile towards Zuko at this point, so things are a bit strained. Still, you can probably already see the cracks forming; I’m sure they’ll warm up to each other soon (get it? Warm up? Cause they’re Fire Nation? :D )
> 
> I don’t feel the need to go through every single episode in this fic if I don’t feel like they’re especially important to the story I’m trying to tell, so from here on out we might jump a little bit, as most fics of this nature do. I’m sure nobody wants a beat-for-beat recap of “the show you already watched with half of a scene changed.” That being said, I’ve planned on using more eps from the first season as the basis for chapters than I initially thought I would, so don’t worry about there being a lack of content!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone subscribed to this fic getting this notification: Why are you updating your fic at 5 AM?  
> Me, a gremlin, hunched over my laptop and watching the sun come up outside: Because I've lost control of my life

Trying to chase after an airbender was exhausting. Zuko knew he was doing all this for a _reason,_ of course, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t completely sick of trying to catch up to someone who was as slippery as a chameleon-eel.

The path Aang and the others were taking seemed to make no sense. They’d shot straight to Kyoshi Island, which was baffling because Kyoshi had been a neutral party in the war for a century. Except not anymore, apparently, as they’d been more than happy to help defend the airbender and his friends. In the commotion that followed, it was absurdly easy for them all to slip away, leaving Zuko and his crew to give chase again.

They’d had an assortment of close calls and near-misses since then that were just as frustrating. Every time Zuko got close enough that he thought he might actually succeed, he was sent flying backwards yet again. Literally. His bruises could attest to just how often he’d been airbended backwards into a wall in the last month.

Well, he figured, it wasn’t a total loss. It still felt weird to think, but all of the time Zuko had spent getting flung back into walls had given him a lot of time to study Aang’s bending. He was sure he was missing something – basics, he was sure Uncle would say, if he could talk to Uncle about any of this – but he could at least say he had the random bursts of accidental airbending under control. He was even getting pretty good at reliably being able to stir up a breeze. Not that he had any interest in _using_ airbending past the point when he was sure it wouldn’t be a problem anymore, of course. Still, he was almost surprised at how easily it was coming to him, especially compared to the time he’d spent as a kid desperately trying to create more than sparks and smoke.

The thought almost made him laugh. How many other people could say they’d learned an element just by getting hit with it so many times? Then his hand made an aborted move towards his face, and he scowled, abruptly reminded that some elements meant to “teach” did more than just bruise.

Zuko’s poor mood only made his exhaustion weigh heavier on him. It felt like they’d been on the move constantly since Aang had been discovered, and since he was in charge of plotting the Wani’s course, he’d hardly had a moment of rest as they tried to follow the random, zigzagging path of a nomad and a sky bison.

The Wani had pulled into port at an Earth Kingdom coastal town a mere few hours ago, but the sun was already starting to sink beneath the horizon. They’d come chasing rumors in Omashu, but the trail had gone cold long before they’d even reached the Earth Kingdom. Now it seemed pointless to move further inland as Aang got further and further away. They were just restocking and looking for new information so they could set off as soon as possible.

Uncle had said something about taking the night off and joining in some festivities they were holding on the docks. Zuko had very little interest in listening to Uncle fumble his way through the tsungihorn (or cajoling Zuko into playing instead, which he refused to do, despite the fact that Uncle’s efforts sounded like a dying pygmy puma. Zuko wasn’t _great,_ but his tutors had at least taught him a respectable proficiency). But he thought he might take Uncle up on the offer of a night off. Maybe getting some rest would clear his head and make it easier for him to continue his search.

Zuko retreated to his quarters, shutting the door firmly behind him. Uncle was generally inclined to barge in without knocking if the door was left open even a crack, but when it was fully shut he usually let him be. Maybe Zuko would be allowed a few hours of privacy before that Agni-forsaken tsungihorn playing woke him up.

He was practically asleep before his head hit the pillow.

~~~

Zuko came to with a start, very much no longer in his quarters on the Wani. The ground underneath him was all hard stone, digging uncomfortably into his back. Something warm puffed over his face, hot air wafting in like a wave. He cracked an eye open.

Instead of staring up at the ceiling of his room, he was staring directly into the eyes of a giant, glowing, blue _dragon._

Zuko did _not_ yelp. He scrambled backwards and shot to his feet in a very dignified way that definitely did not involve tripping over himself. He prepared for the beast’s response, trying to call his fire to him, but it didn’t respond. He couldn’t even manage an ember. _What in Agni’s name was going on?!_

The dragon just stared impassively. It didn’t seem particularly interested in his panic. Instead, it just huffed another hot breath, looking almost dismissive.

Zuko didn’t quite take his eyes off of it, but he did use the opportunity to look around himself. Stone stretched out for yards around him, gently sloping upwards under his feet. Towards the base of the hill he was standing on was the ocean, lapping slowly at the shore. Towards the top the stone flattened out and caved in, almost like… like a volcano.

“What’s going on?” He asked, half to himself and maybe half to the dragon. “Where am I?!”

“You are in the Spirit World, Zuko.” The voice startled him so badly he nearly airbended himself five feet off the ground – or he would have, if he could _bend._ Instead, he just spun to face it, his hands still reflexively coming up in a defensive position.

An old man stepped out from behind the dragon’s flank. He stood tall and imposing in red Fire Nation robes. A section of his long white hair was pulled into a topknot, and he had a matching beard of a pretty impressive length.

“Who are you? Why am I here?” Zuko asked, but part of him knew with a certainty he wasn’t sure he wanted to examine.

The man stared at him like he could read his mind, but he answered anyway. “I am Avatar Roku.”

That was just what he’d thought. But it was strange, because there hadn’t been any portraits of Avatar Roku or any of the others in the palace. He didn’t think there were many paintings of the old Avatar left in the world at all, let alone in the Fire Nation. And yet Zuko had known exactly who he was.

Avatar Roku didn’t wait for him to work through his confusion. “You are here because I must speak to you. There are things you must understand now that you know you are the Avatar.”

“Well tell them to someone else! I don’t want to _be_ the Avatar.”

Roku’s face darkened. “It is your responsibility and your birthright.”

Zuko scoffed. “Haven’t had a lot of luck when it comes to _birthrights,_ ” he said, grimacing. “Tell the spirits to find someone else. Whatever you want me to do, I’m not doing it.”

“You cannot ignore your destiny!” Roku protested, but Zuko was unswayed. What had destiny ever done for him? He was supposed to be the Crown Prince, but he’d ruined that. He’d been stripped of his honor, and then the Agni-forsaken Avatar spirit had stripped him of his chance to get it back. As far as he was concerned, the spirits could talk about destiny as much as they liked; he wanted no part in it.

Roku looked like he was going to say more, but the world around them blurred, everything going out of focus and fuzzy, and before Zuko could react the world underneath him seemed to shift over a half-step and he was back in his bed on the Wani.

Zuko sat halfway up, then abruptly gave up and fell back into his pillow with a groan. Why couldn’t the spirits just leave him alone?! Well, one thing was for certain – he was _not_ going to do whatever Avatar Roku had been going on about. He didn’t want to be the Avatar. Maybe if he just ignored it all for long enough, the spirits would get some sense and choose someone else.

~~~

“Uh, Katara? I think he’s broken.”

“Sokka, _shh._ He’s concentrating.”

“Concentrating on _what,_ the inside of his eyes- ow!” Sokka winced, rubbing his side where Katara had elbowed him. It wasn’t his fault Aang was acting so weird! Sokka had woken up this morning only to find Aang sleeping in – even though he was sitting upright – and Katara had insisted he was “meditating.” She’d made Sokka go forage around for nuts and berries! He was the _meat_ guy, not the berries guy!

Like the best big brother he was, he’d gone out and gotten the stupid berries himself. It had taken even longer than usual, since the area of the forest they’d camped out in last night looked like it had been burned to the ground by the Fire Nation not too long ago. They’d figured that the number of people who’d come out to a place like this would be next to no one. This had the unfortunate consequence of meaning Sokka had to go what felt like half the length of the Earth kingdom away just to find plants that were still growing. And after all that, he’d come back to find Aang in the exact same position Sokka had left him in. Frankly, his suspicion that Aang was broken was seeming more and more likely by the second.

Aang’s complete stillness was broken all at once as he abruptly pushed himself to his feet with a gust of air. Sokka yelped and sprang backwards at the sudden movement, fumbling his armload of berries and sending them skittering halfway across the camp where Momo set himself upon them. Sokka groaned, resigning himself to a second trip into the woods.

“You’re back!” Katara said with a wide smile, seemingly unbothered by all of Sokka’s hard work going to waste.

“Back from where exactly?” Sokka asked. By the looks of things Aang hadn’t so much as twitched a muscle when he was “meditating.”

“Aang was meditating to reach the Spirit World! Can you believe it?”

“What?!” He could _do_ that?

Aang sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Eheh, well, kind of. The air nomads are – were, I guess – all very spiritual. It wasn’t uncommon for some of the elders to be able to visit the Spirit World. Monk Gyatso never really finished my training… but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it soon.”

Sokka wasn’t so sure he liked the idea. Katara using her magic water powers was bad enough; they didn’t need to be inviting spirits into the mix! “Okay, and _why_ do you need to visit the Spirit World exactly?”

”Well, the Avatar is the bridge between our world and the Spirit World, right? So I thought that if I tried to reach the Spirit World, I might be able to learn something about the current Avatar.” Aang’s shoulders slumped a little. “I haven’t had much luck so far, though.”

Sokka bit back a comment about how this was a bad idea. Aang just looked so dejected, he couldn’t help but want to reassure him a little. “Hey, you’ll figure it out eventually. Before long, the spirits will be coming right to you!”

Aang perked up. “You really think so?”

Sokka opened his mouth to reply, but a sudden rumbling in the earth underneath their feet made him pause. He glanced back through the thin, charred trees, trying to figure out what the cause of the disruption was. His heart leaped into his throat when he saw it – a huge, hulking black and white monster sprinting towards them. It had four long arms, one of which was curled up by its body like it was holding something. Sokka yelped, and the three of them sprang backwards out of the beast’s path. It thundered past them, continuing on for a few feet and then abruptly vanishing into nothing.

Sokka blinked dumbly at where it had disappeared. “When I said the spirits would be coming right to you, I _really_ didn’t mean it that literally.”

They hardly had a moment to catch their breath. Before long, a man ran out of the trees the same direction the spirit had come from, looking around frantically. “You three!” he said, “did you happen to see a spirit pass by here?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Sokka said dryly. “But it disappeared.”

The man sunk to his knees, panting and obviously hoping for a different answer. “That is just what I feared.” He held his head in his hands, not looking up at any of them.

“Is everything okay?” Katara asked, moving to kneel next to him and laying a hand on his shoulder. Sokka tensed as the mysterious man looked up at her, but he relaxed a little when it became clear the guy was worried, not violent.

“That spirit is known as Hei Bai. Ever since the forest outside of our village was destroyed, it's been kidnapping people from our village. Nothing we do seems to appease it. This time, it ran off with my wife.” The guy looked nearly to the point of tears when he spoke. Sokka might have thought something unkind about how men should be too strong to cry, but a small, smart part of him remembered what Suki had thought of his other comments about machismo and he wisely chose to keep quiet.

Katara bit her lip. “That’s awful! I’m so sorry.” She glanced back up at the two of them, and then her eyes moved to focus on Aang. Sokka saw the thought building in her mind and silently willed, _no, bad idea Katara, do not tell him-_ “Maybe we can help! My friend Aang is an air nomad, so he can visit the Spirit World! Maybe he could talk to the spirit and help get your wife back!”

Aang’s eyes went wide, clearly not expecting this at all. Sokka just slapped a palm to his forehead. “Katara, no I don’t think that’s-”

“An air nomad? And you can really do that?!” The man looked up at Aang with as much awe as if he really _was_ the Avatar, and Sokka sighed. It looked like this one was out of his hands.

And he could see Aang’s willpower deflating by the second in the face of Katara’s pleading eyes. The kid had maybe the most obvious crush Sokka had ever seen, and if Katara was used to being around boys her own age, she would have picked up on it too. As it was, she seemed blissfully unaware of how easy it was for her to compel Aang to do just about anything she wanted. Which was only confirmed by Aang’s hesitant, “I, uh, I could give it a try…?”

Sokka sighed. How did they always get themselves into these kinds of messes?

~~~

Zuko’s fitful nap had only lasted the better part of an hour, but there was little chance of falling back asleep after a dream where he met Avatar Roku. Or was it not really a meeting at all, since technically Roku was a part of himself…? Thinking about it made his head hurt, and it absolutely wasn’t what Zuko wanted to spend his time doing right now. Instead, he figured it would be a more productive use of his time to see how restocking was going.

Unfortunately, the answer to that question, he soon discovered, was “not well.” This was primarily because everyone was at the docks, which had morphed from a small-scale celebration to what could only be described as a festival involving the crew of the other ships docked at the port. The festival showed no sign of ending with the coming sunset. He didn’t have any proof, but he was sure Uncle had something to do with this.

Zuko very abruptly decided he wanted no part in what was going on. He was just as abruptly dragged into it anyway as his Uncle spotted him and flagged him down with a cheery, “There you are, Prince Zuko!” and a wave. He resisted the urge to groan as he walked over to the large semi-circle of people that surrounded his Uncle, who was holding, as predicted, a tsungihorn on his lap. “I was hoping you would come out and join us. I just told everyone how good you used to be at playing the tsungihorn and they are very eager for a demonstration.”

If Zuko had to name the look on his crew’s face, “eager” was not the word he would use. Half of them looked like they sincerely doubted Uncle’s ability to judge talent on any musical instrument. The other hand were trying and failing to hold back snickers of amusement. Lieutenant Jee let out a noise that was just polite enough to be passed off as a cough and not a laugh.

“Perhaps another night,” Zuko said, with no intention of following through on his promise.

“If you say so.” Uncle frowned at him in that weird disappointed way of his, usually whenever he was about to give a lecture on taking care of yourself. He lowered his voice. “Are you alright? You don’t look so well.”

Zuko shrugged, but Uncle was already standing. “Pardon me a moment, I must talk to my nephew.” He started to lead them away from the crowd, heading for the edge of the docks closer to the town.

Before following, Zuko covertly reached behind him and passed the tsungihorn off to someone else, having no desire to hear his Uncle’s sorry excuse for “playing” tonight.

It was much quieter away from the impromptu festival. In fact, the little port town was almost dead silent. It would have been more concerning if the thought of peace and quiet didn’t sound so tempting right then.

“Now that we are alone,” Uncle said, glancing around them as if to demonstrate, “I will repeat my question, and I hope you will be more honest with me. Are you alright?”

Zuko’s immediate response was to deflect, because it wasn’t like he could tell Uncle he was getting visits from the Avatar in his dreams, but he caught himself before he spoke. He couldn’t be that specific, no, but Uncle had been to the Spirit World before, hadn’t he? That’s what Father had told him at least, shortly after Lu Ten had died, though he’d said it with plenty of disdain in his voice. So Uncle knew how to deal with spirits, which might mean he knew how to get _rid_ of them.

“You… have experience with the Spirit World, don’t you?”

Uncle blinked a moment at the complete non-sequitur, then raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“The, uh- the Avatar, of course!” Zuko said, thinking on his feet. “He’s related to all that spirit… stuff… right? So I was thinking I could, uh, learn more about spirits, to get information!” Well, it was half-true. And if he’d learned anything from Azula, it was that the best lies always had a little bit of truth in them.

Uncle just frowned. “The Spirit World is very dangerous, Prince Zuko. I would caution you against getting involved with spirits in any way.” He paused. “The Avatar himself excluded out of necessity, I suppose.”

Zuko gave a little frustrated sigh. “I don’t need to be warned away from dangerous things, Uncle. I’m not a child.” Uncle gave him a look like he very much disagreed, but Zuko ignored it.

“Very well. I only caution you because I know that spirits can be tricky beings. They tend to speak in riddles, and they rarely have patience for humans figuring those riddles out.”

 _Yeah, no kidding,_ Zuko thought sourly. He still wasn’t getting the answers he needed, but how should he ask? Could he tell Uncle-

A commotion back at the festival drew their attention away. Zuko immediately started towards it to see what had happened, and Uncle followed, though he hesitated briefly.

At the center of the crowd there was a man on his knees yelling something about “My cabbages!” Pieces of said cabbages were strewn around what must have once been a cart but now was only a pile of splinters.

Zuko sought out a familiar face and found Lieutenant Jee at the front of the crowd. “What happened?”

Any of the mirth that had been in the usually-uptight man’s face before was completely gone now. “A spirit broke into the crowd and tore through some of the vendors’ stalls. No one was seriously injured, but it was a close call.”

Zuko traded a look with Uncle, who seemed almost suspicious given they’d just been speaking of spirits. Despite their previous conversation, Zuko could honestly say he didn’t know anything about this. The spirit certainly didn’t sound like Avatar Roku, after all.

“A close call? It’ll be much worse than that next time.” A man in green made his way over to them, not looking particularly happy about it. His thin brows were drawn in a glare that only deepened when he met Zuko’s eyes.

Zuko didn’t back down from what seemed like an obvious challenge. He’d faced worse. “You know about these spirits.”

The man nodded. “They’re the Yuan gui. The spirits are attracted to noise. I imagine they didn’t take kindly to all this.” Well, that explained why the town had been almost deathly quiet and still. “The Yuan gui roam this area after sundown. We don’t appreciate strangers coming and kicking up a fuss.” The man narrowed his eyes at the crowd. “They are especially disturbed by Fire Nation intruders. Looks like they broke up your little party, ashmakers.”

The crowd rippled with unease and offense. Zuko ground his teeth. First he had spirits trying to contact him, and now he had spirits trying to force him out of one of the few friendly ports on this side of the Earth Kingdom? He wasn’t going to back down just because of some ghosts!

He stepped forward, distantly hearing his Uncle’s protest but brushing it off. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

The man grimaced, unintimidated. “I think I made myself clear. You shouldn’t have come here.” He met Zuko’s eyes as he spoke, and Zuko’s glare deepened in response. How was he responsible for these spirits’ actions?

“Well I think,” he said, taking a step forward, “that your spirits are just going to have to deal with the _intrusion,_ because we’re not leaving.”

The man crossed his arms. “It’s your funeral,” he spat. “But when your crew turns up dead, don’t say you weren’t warned.”

“Zhang, stop it!” The voice came from somewhere in the crowd. A young woman pushed her way to the front, also clad in Earth Kingdom green. She glared disapprovingly up at Zhang. He was nearly a full foot taller than her, but she seemed to have no trouble holding her own. “You’re only making things worse! If the Yuan gui are riled up, they’ll-”

“Don’t tell them that! They’re _outsiders_ from the Fire Nation, they don’t need to know!”

“Don’t tell us what?” Zuko asked, taking a little bit of satisfaction when Zhang only glared at him.

The woman pushed past him. “Forgive Zhang’s rudeness. My name is Chun. I’m a healer. I’ve seen more spirit attacks than you can imagine, and they’ve only gotten worse in the last few days. Something is agitating the spirits, and it’s _not_ a silly little party.” She threw a glance back at Zhang over her shoulder. “The Yuan gui are dangerous, and we… we need help. We can’t go on like this. People are going to get killed!”

She fixed him with wide, pleading eyes, but Zuko only snorted. “Sounds rough. Good luck dealing with your spirit problem, but it’s none of our concern.”

Uncle rested a staying hand on his shoulder. “Nephew, I don’t believe-”

“I _said_ it’s none of our concern.” He was sick of the Spirit World trying to get him involved in their games. If this town wanted someone to deal with their spirit issue, they should have thought of that before Zhang antagonized them! “Find someone else to deal with it, because I don’t care.”

He had better things to do than get wrapped up in other peoples’ sob stories. He had his _own_ crew to worry about. Zuko was going to go back to the ship, party be damned, and he was going to get some rest, and tomorrow they could put this whole town behind them.

His resolve to stay out of this and leave the Earth Kingdom town to its own devices lasted only until he reached the Wani. Because as he and Uncle made their way back, their eyes fell on the giant hole of twisted, jagged metal in the right side that had definitely _not_ been there before.

“What happened?!”

The man who stepped forward to answer him – Jiro, Zuko thought, who worked in the engine room – had a smear of soot streaking his face. “Sir,” he said, meeting his gaze but visibly shrinking in on himself, “It seems the engine, ah, that is, it… suddenly exploded.”

Zuko grit his teeth. “ _How?_ ” he asked through them, very carefully not screaming in the man’s face.

“Well, I was – I was getting a drink at the festival, you see, and that’s why I didn’t think it was real, I thought I’d just had too much to drink, you know, but I went to the furnace room because I’d left something in there and there was a, um…” Jiro bit his lip. Then, in a quiet voice, he admitted, “There was a ghost shoveling coal into the furnace, sir.”

Of course. It had to be spirits.

“Oh, for Agni’s sake.”

This had to be a record for the number of times a single ship had been half-destroyed. Zuko could hardly find the energy to be angry.

Uncle seemed just as dismayed but resigned. “Well, I suppose if we are to be stuck here and we need repairs, we should probably try to get back on the locals’ good side. Perhaps there is something we can do about their spirit problem after all.” Zuko tried to argue, but Uncle merely said, “I suppose you are going to get that knowledge of the Spirit World you were looking for to defeat the Avatar at least, hmm?”

And, well, there wasn’t any way Zuko could argue with _that_ without sounding suspicious, was there?

“I… guess I will.”

~~~

Chun was surprisingly gracious about accepting their help, even after what Zuko had said before. He didn’t know if this was because she was just that forgiving or just that desperate, but he wasn’t going to ask.

She seemed perfectly happy to explain the situation, or she was an expert at hiding her actual feelings. As a kid, Zuko had gotten his fair share of scrapes and bruises, so he’d spent plenty of time with the palace healers. Even back then, he had gotten the sense that they’d cultivated the same skill. They always seemed to bite their tongues and carefully avoid mentioning anything about the injuries. Perhaps it was just a trait shared by healers.

Next to him, Uncle stroked his beard. “It seems something must have recently upset them then, and it’s only gotten worse. Perhaps if we can understand what it was, we can alleviate the problem.”

Chun nodded. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do, but it’s been a slow and tedious process. Most people won’t even admit we have a spirit problem, and the ones that do like Zheng haven’t been much help in dealing with them. They’d much rather ignore the issue – until a Yuan gui shows up at their doorstep, of course.”

“So what are we supposed to do about it?” Zuko asked, already losing patience. Sunset had long since fallen, and they seemed no closer to dealing with the Yuan gui than they had been when they started.

Chun was saying something, but Zuko’s attention was almost instantly pulled away by movement behind her. One of the abandoned carts had started to rise into the air, and Zuko could just make out the faint green glow that took the approximate shape of a man but seemed to trail off into nothingness at the edges. Just as Zuko saw this, the spirit hurled the cart right towards them.

“Duck!” he commanded, springing forward to pull Chun out of the cart’s path. It crashed down harmlessly a few inches behind them. Zuko wasted no time, immediately seeking out the Yuan gui who’d thrown it. He punched fire out at the spirit, but it simply backed away, then fled back towards the town.

“Get back here!” Zuko took off after it, hearing Uncle call his name as he did. He wasn’t letting this spirit get away. He was going to catch it and force it to leave him alone. He didn’t _care_ that he was the Avatar and he was supposed to mediate these things or whatever. He was going to make these spirits listen to _him,_ not the other way around!

The Yuan gui stayed just out of his reach, even after he chased it all the way back to the town. He followed it through winding streets, dead set on not letting it get away, even as the distance between the two of them kept increasing. In a fit of frustration, he again punched flames at it – or he tried to, at least. Where fire should have burst from his fist, there was nothing, not even a spark.

Zuko stopped dead in his tracks, only belatedly realizing that the Yuan gui finally slipped away from him and out of his sight. What was going on? Why was it that for the second time that night, he couldn’t bend?

He was started out of his thoughts by Uncle’s familiar voice behind him, calling his name. Zuko spun, relieved to see he’d followed with Chun, who looked unharmed. “Uncle, it got away. I’m not sure what’s going on, but-”

“Zuko? Nephew, where did you go?”

Zuko blinked. “I’m right here!”

But Uncle didn’t react at all. “His footprints led down this way, but they stop here in a dead end.”

Zuko glanced down at his feet. Sure enough, while he’d left impressions in the soft soil near where Uncle was standing, there were no tracks underneath Zuko. Even stomping his foot at full force failed to make any change in the dirt.

“What’s going on? This isn’t funny! Chun, Uncle, you’ve had your laugh. Now stop messing with me!”

No one responded. Uncle kept looking, eyes skipping right over him and continuing on without a spark of recognition.

Uncle couldn’t see him and he couldn’t bend. The last time he hadn’t been able to bend at all, it had been in his dream, but that couldn’t be right because Avatar Roku had said he was in-

That was it. It was the only explanation that made sense.

Zuko had somehow entered the Spirit World.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuko tripping his way into the spirit world: Hey there demons, it’s me, ya boy
> 
> I played with canon a bit in this chapter, but I’ll justify a few of the changes I made lol. Aang’s only able to speak directly to Roku on the solstice and in the temple in the Fire Nation, but these requirements are getting relaxed a little here. My thought process is that, as Zuko’s grandfather, maybe Roku has a bit of a stronger connection with him and could therefore effectively haunt his dreams. Also, later on in the series Aang’s able to communicate with previous Avatars from just about anywhere, so as Zuko gets a handle on his abilities as the Avatar it becomes gradually easier. Not that he’s exactly thrilled about using it in any case.
> 
> The other thing that’s a tiny bit different here is Iroh’s ability (or lack thereof) to see things in the Spirit World. There’s a point in season one where he sees Aang on the back of Roku’s dragon in s1, but I honestly don’t think this ever happens again in the series and it seems like a pretty unreliable ability at best. Honestly this justification is mostly “because it’s more dramatic if he can’t see Zuko” but it’s such a small change that I can’t imagine it ruffled too many feathers.
> 
> Also, I gave Aang a touch more spiritual training than canon had him at by this point. I figured with everything in LoK with the airbenders, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to say airbenders have a stronger connection with the Spirit World than any other element and they might have the option to strengthen this connection through training.
> 
> Forgive me my transgressions for the sake of plot ;D


End file.
